The E-Waste Database

🌱 Why is improving waste management around energy infrastructure important? To reach its climate targets, the EU aims to “conver[t] its electricity supply system from fossil fuels to mostly low- and net-zero-energy sources”. This transition unsurprisingly involves “a substantial overhaul of infrastructure” and the “decommissioning [of] materials from fossil-fuel-based electricity production”. To explore the waste created through this process and find ways to shift to a more circular economy, the European Commission (EC) published a report titled “Circular economy strategies for the EU's renewable electricity supply” on 10 January 2025. The report provides policy recommendations on how the waste from decommissioned photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines, as well as decommissioned fossil fuel power plants, could be better managed. 🌱 What improvements could be made in relation to wind? According to the EC report, improving the waste management of wind blades is essential. In line with this, the report suggests “[c]onsidering an extended producer responsibility scheme for turbines”. It also proposes to improve the “data collection for installation and decommissioning of wind turbines” to allow better foresight into the waste volumes. To this end, it recommends “[c]reating common waste codes”, as well as “[t]racking the fate of materials after decommissioning to support reuse and repurposing business models”. 🌱 What improvements could be made in relation to solar? The EC report sets out that “[i]mproving [the] recyclability of PV modules and inverters through design regulation” is key to improving the waste management of solar energy technologies. According to the EC report, other ways to improve the recycling of PV include setting “recycling targets focused on [the] economic value of materials” and creating “[m]easures to better understand and promote PV reuse including certification requirements, safety measures, and warranty”. 🌱 What improvements could be made in relation to fossil fuel power plants? According to the EC report, the waste management of decommissioned fossil fuel power plants could be improved through more thorough planning in the pre-demolition phase and by providing more “[g]uidance and knowledge sharing on repurposing and reuse of materials”. The report also sets out that “better EU-wide future planning” could be achieved by closely “[s]urveying locations and materials” throughout the EU. Read more about the EU’s waste management of energy technologies here:  https://op.europa.eu/s/z1w

🌱 How much waste is generated through decommissioned energy technologies in the EU? On 10 January 2025, the European Commission (EC) published a report titled "Circular economy strategies for the EU's renewable electricity supply". According to the report, an estimated 6.2 MT of waste aluminum, copper, and steel were made available for recycling from decommissioned photovoltaics (PVs), wind turbines, as well as coal, gas, and oil power plants between 2014 and 2023. This is a considerable amount of waste material. As a comparison, the cumulative collected waste from portable batteries and other accumulators was 0.83 MT between 2012 and 2021, according to a 2021 Eurostat estimate. While many coal and other fossil fuel plants have been decommissioned, “only a small percentage of photovoltaic and wind turbines have retired” to date. Over the next few decades, the amount of waste material originating from PVs and wind turbines will therefore grow significantly. 🌱 What waste is created through wind power? Wind turbine blades are large-volume waste and are currently challenging components from a circularity perspective. They “have limited commercial-scale recycling and reuse possibilities”. According to the EC report, “[t]he net capacity of wind energy installed in 2050 is predicted to be around 860 GW”. In practice, this means that “[i]f all wind turbines are assumed to be 10 MW machines, there will be 86,000 turbines”. It is also estimated that in 2050, wind power will generate an annual volume of bulk material waste higher than solar power. 🌱 What waste is created through solar photovoltaics? Currently, “[d]edicated PV recycling processes are capable of recovering valuable materials like silver and silicon”. Yet, according to the EC report, “economic barriers such as the high costs of collection and processing hinder the development of widespread commercial-scale recycling”. It is estimated that “PV waste volumes will rise significantly as the EU [recently] increased its aim for renewable energy deployment to 42.5% from 32.5% by 2030”. By 2020, a total of 135 GW in PV capacity was deployed in the EU. In 2022, the total installed PV capacity in the EU reached 200 GW. This is notably “a rise of 50% in just 2 years”. In line with this, “[t]he EU will amass 6-13 MT of PV waste by 2040 and 21-35 MT of PV waste by 2050”. 🌱 What waste is created through fossil fuel power plants? There are large-volume waste streams resulting from fossil fuel power plant closures. The EC report estimates that, between 2014 and 2023, 5.6 million tonnes of waste steel, 23.54 million tonnes of concrete, as well as significant amounts of copper and aluminum originated from decommissioned fossil fuel power plants. Read more about the waste from the EU’s energy technologies here: https://op.europa.eu/s/z1w

🌱 Can circuit boards be made from leaves? Printed circuit boards (PCBs) play a central role in close to all electronic devices. Therewith, they also contribute massively to the global production of e-waste. PCBs are traditionally made from non-recyclable materials – such as fibre glass and composite plastic. This also means that “they often end up in landfills or are incinerated to recover valuable metals”. Yet, researchers from the Dresden University of Technology in Germany have recently created a new type of biodegradable circuit board made from leaves. This technology is a type of “organic circuitry”, which is called “leaftronics”. It was notably created in an effort to reduce e-waste. 🌱 How are leaftronics produced? To date, leaftronics have been made using a leaf from a magnolia tree. This leaf is stripped to “its stem and veins”. It is then dipped into a container filled with a polymer that is both durable and compostable, namely ethyl cellulose. This results in a “smooth, flexible and transparent material, capable of withstanding high temperatures”. This material can then be laser-cut into “leaf-based circuit boards”, printed on with circuits, and the necessary components can be soldered onto its surface. 🌱 How do leaftronics compare with other biodegradable PCBs? In the past, several biodegradable PCBs have been made using alternative materials – such as silk, paper, and mushroom skins. Yet, in comparison to other materials, the reliance of leaftronics “on natural leaf scaffolds simplifies the production process while also enhancing the material's thermal and mechanical properties”. This notably makes leaftronics “a genuine candidate for mass production”. 🌱 Will leaftronics become the industry standard? Leaftronics have performed well in their initial testing. They are biodegradable and unlike traditional PCBs, leaftronics “can be left in an acid bath to remove any valuable metals” before being degraded. They can “handle elevated temperatures well” and their production is “not energy intensive”. The adoption of leaftronics in the electronics industry, however, has an uncertain future. Even though many electronic devices are often discarded within a few years, durability is still largely prioritized for PCBs. It is still too early to say precisely how durable leaftronics are and how willing the electronics sector will be to embrace this new technology. Read more about leaftronics here: - https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/newsportal/news/von-der-natur-inspiriert-leaftronics-ebnet-den-weg-fuer-biologisch-abbaubare-elektronik?set_language=en - https://tu-dresden.de/mn/physik/die-fakultaet/aktuell/von-der-natur-inspiriert-leaftronics-ebnet-den-weg-fuer-biologisch-abbaubare-elektronik - https://sustainabilitymag.com/articles/meet-leaftronics-the-circuit-board-technology-made-of-leaves - https://silicon-saxony.de/en/tu-dresden-inspired-by-nature-leaftronics-paves-the-way-for-biodegradable-electronics/ - https://www.saechsische.de/wissen/regional/blaetter-statt-plastik-tu-dresden-entwickelt-gruene-elektronik-mit-leaftronics-ESKVUFTHWVEEPBEPQKTAURU53A.html - https://www.pflanzenforschung.de/de/pflanzenwissen/journal/leaftronics - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq3276